Summer Coastal Adventure Camps for Teenagers - July 9th-13th

We are offer exciting, rewarding outdoor coastal adventure education for youth ages 12-18. Kiwanda Kites Adventures combine one or more outdoor activities--like hiking, wall climbing, backpacking, kayaking, surfing, hang gliding, horse-back riding--all in one spectacular destination. Group size on our programs ranges from 6 to 10 and all of our trips have at least two instructors at all times.

Kiwanda Kites hang gliding camp is a great way to introduce your teenagers to science, nature and skill development in a vigorous way. There is nothing like a prospect of a five foot drop to focus the heart, mind and body! But, do not worry. That is what wings, good saddles and great training and instruction are for. Hang gliding, horse back riding, kayaking, fishing, surfing, is great fun but it does require good training, discipline, persistence, determination, effort and study. These are qualities that determine success in life, not inherent talent. This small camp (6 participants) leverages personal attention with these virtues to empower participants. The camp provides immediate rewards but asks for some effort to achieve greater rewards. This makes it one of the most memorable experiences imaginable. Your kid will study aerodynamics, weather, biology, psychology, oceanography and physical skills to immediately apply the topics studied. In fact, when you see all the empowering fun your kids are having, you will proabably want to take the weekend getaway yourself.

Kiwanda Kites Teen Coastal Adventures participants learn valuable wilderness skills and develop essential life skills at the same time. This unique combination fosters an appreciation for the environment, develops self-esteem, instills a spirit of adventure, and promotes teamwork, friendship, and a sense of community through memorable and meaningful coastal wilderness experiences. Benefits to Youth who participate in outdoor adventures benefit in countless ways as they step into new environments. These outdoor adventure experiences provide youth with the opportunity to develop:

• Ethics of determination, focus and effort
• Holistic integration of head, heart, and lungs
• Self-confidence, self-respect, self-honesty
• Communication skills
• A sense of responsibility for self, others, the community, and the environment
• Critical thinking skills
• Teamwork experience
• Decision-making skills

Horse Back Riding

The riding portion of our camp offers two hours of riding lessons a day. This enables our students to experience success in graduated steps, promoting their esteem and confidence. The program uses AAHS - American Association for Horsemanship Safety standards to introduce participants to horse behavior, proper handling, and cooperative trail riding.

Learning how to hang glide is an equally physical, intellectual and emotional activity. It requires exceptional discipline but is also amazingly exhilarating. Learning to balance these opposing psychological forces is main lesson in learning to fly. Yes, self control! Of course, basic lessons are only five feet above the ground, but that is enough altitude to develop significant motor skills and confidence. However a major reward of hang gliding is learning all about how wind and weather works. Flying provides the platform for learning natural science and how to assess the affects of weather on flying. It opens up a whole new awareness of the world in terms wind, clouds, sun, and seasons - aspects which we feel passively reactive but in this case we can do something about! Lessons build on the introductory lesson material above using United States Hang Gliding Association competency standards. Ground school is integrated into the lesson before and after dune and hill and training using a textbooks, video review, electronic and analog simulators. This portion of the camp occurs every day for four to five hours. These classes are at Kiwanda Kites Adventure Beach House right after dinner at the same location. Hang Gliding Camp - July 9th-13th The camp participants stay at the full service Webb Tillamook County Campground. Click Here

• Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th Arrival - Sunday Afternoon Ground School
• Monday - Friday Morning field lesson, Camp Lunch, Afternoon field lesson, Showers and relax, Beach House Dinner, Ground School
• Wednesday - Optional Horsemanship lesson

  Reviews

  I'm a long-time hang glider pilot, so my son (Ian) has grown up around the sport and often asked if I would take him up with me. When he was eight I eventually agreed, but the sudden transition to being suspended a couple hundred feet up in the air was a little scary for him. I didn't think he'd ever want to try it again. But when he was 11 he saw a video of some teens with a glider running down a sand dune with John, and said he'd really like to try that. I called John and asked what he thought, and John asked a few questions including about our son's fitness and his ability to pay attention to what he was told, then said he thought he'd do just fine. We signed him up for a one-day hang gliding experience session, expecting that he'd get some time in ground school (theory of flight), setting up a glider, and maybe handling it on the ground. In the event, he did those things and also, because we were very lucky with the weather, he actually got to fly! He got five or six short flights from a small training hill. Although they were short, he was doing the take-off, controlling the direction and speed, and landing the glider by himself. I was there, and took some video (low quality, sorry), to which John added a voice-over and posted to his youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8GdPJ0EeRM
  Please understand that this was much more than we had any right to expect from a one-day session. We were very lucky with the weather, and it might also have helped that I was there to assist in getting the glider back up the hill more quickly for more flight opportunities. But the main thing that made it possible and that really impressed me was the way that John worked with Ian, communicating clearly and making sure that what he was saying was being taken in and understood. When I complimented John on this afterwards, he said the great thing about working with kids is that they tend to be much better listeners than adults. Ian will always remember his lesson with John, and I think what he achieved that day has given him a quiet confidence in his own abilities, knowing that he has done something other kids might not even consider possible.
  If this is something your daughter or son is interested in doing, I would thoroughly recommend having her do John's camp.
  Neil Clark

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  From Yelp:
  John Matylonek is the instructor from the hang gliding school my girls & husband had for this amazing experience! He worked very well with my 9 yr old, 11 yr old and 36 yr old hubby. I can't say enough good stuff about him as an instructor. He's just one of those genuinely nice people that love what they do and want others to have a great experience trying it and/or taking it up as a hobby/sport. We went to his Corvallis, OR location but I think he also has a location down at the Coast & possibly other sites. He also does a horse riding tour/camp that my kids & husband got to try b/c they arrived so early for their hang gliding lesson. This is not your ordinary horse lesson! You actually go get the horse you want to ride from the praire, talk him into letting you ride him (w/treats & such), clean him and ride him to a blackberry patch to pick, down hills & threw a sheep field! Just an amazing experience for my kids. I highly recommend this experience (good for all ages)!!
  Beverly M

Learning how to handle a kayak is more than just balancing, turning, and getting upright again. Kayaking brings one closer to the water, where one can experience all sorts natural phenomnea. Deeper understanding of the interactions in the coastal natural world through directly observing the winds and tides effects is not only important to safety but it bring a deeper appreciation of the animals, plants, and birds that depend on these changes. Like the other outdoor camp activities, noting the day to day changes, all the while exercising a basic skill, is what makes kayaking so popular. The kayaking portion of the camp lasts 3 hours on three days.

Surfers are passionate about their sport for a reason. It connects us to power of the oceans and ourselves. Surfing is about THE WAVE. The shape of the wave, riding the wave, dancing with the wave, feeling the wave and being part of the energy of the wave. The rest of surfing stuff it is ancillary. Sometimes you might get lucky and see a smiling seal surfing just inside the face of the wave next to you! Or you will be out there waiting for a wave just talking to the sea gulls or cormorants.

To surf you have to feel at home in the water. You have to feel part of what is going on around you; the natural peace, sounds, movement of the water, the hypnotic sparkles of sunlight on the sea, And you have to be AS ONE with the sea, you have to flow with all of it. So, the physics of waves, where the come from, where they are going, how they literally shape the coastal environment is all part of the value of surfing. No matter how great and wonderful you think you are you are not going fight it and win.

Thus, to surf, like to hang glide, horse back ride, kayak is to learn enjoy the moment, exhibit authentic confidence and exercise personal responsibility.

Reviews and Testimonials

• Yelp Review

Pacific City, Oregon on the Northern Oregon Coast [map] is famous for sand, wind and waves nestled in great Pacific Northwest Rain Forest. Located in south Tillamook County, Pacific City is less than a two-hour drive from Portland, and even closer to Salem. If you prefer, as the crow flies, we have a small state owned airport in the heart of Pacific City which we use for training flights and to shuttle between the inland ranch and corvallis airport.

Philomath, Oregon in shadow of Marys Peak. The City of Philomath is located mid-Willamette Valley with a population of 4610. Established at the base of Mary’s Peak, the tallest peak in the Coast Range, Philomath is just West of Corvallis and Oregon State University and a short 45 minute drive from the Oregon Coast. This unique location offers very diverse opportunities including horse ranch lodging, hiking and mountain biking on Marys Peak, environmental faculty expertise from Oregon State University, fishing on the Alsea River, horse back riding on wild mountain trails